1/05/2015

Building Trust

Larry was a gem who I met online. He took me to the observation deck of the Empire State Building for our first date. While we looked out over the city, he said, "I dare you to drop a penny."

I laughed. He then dug into his pocket, pulled out a nickel, and dropped it over the edge.

Jokingly, I told him, "That could kill someone."

He replied, "If I'm lucky. My life will finally mean something."

"If you kill someone?"

He nodded. "You can probably name 100 famous killers. Bet you can't name even one Joe-Schmoe-nobody." He leaned onto the ledge. "Someday I'll be famous. Killer-famous. Then you won't laugh at me, anymore."

"I'm not laughing at you now."

He didn't say anything, but over the next minute, his hands curled into fists and his face turned a bright red I had never seen in a person's face, before. I began to feel hideously uneasy.

He turned to me and said, "It is time to go."

"Okay," I said. I was ready to leave, myself.

He then turned back to the view and said, "In 20 minutes."

He looked out and said nothing to me for quite a while. I strolled around the deck and when he was finally ready he came up to me and said, "Now it is time to go."

We took the elevator down and left the building. Once we were outside, he gave me a big hug, told me he thought I was beautiful, and then walked across the street and away. We did not have a second date.

I'm fairly new to this site, but I see a pattern in 99% of the posts I've read so far. Can someone please tell me if these are true stories? Most of the time, it seems like the story is drawn out past the point of reality to make it more interesting. For example, staying for twenty minutes with a man who just told you he's going to kill someone, someday (and might have, already, since you just watched him throw a coin off the building).

I have no way to prove story veracity. That said, if I can see a particular situation actually occurring within the bounds of our reality, given the wacky people with whom we share the planet, I usually give it the benefit of the doubt.

Seriously. If someone bigger and stronger than you, and who appears unhinged, tells you you're leaving in 20 minutes, you try to keep him calm and you leave in 20 minutes. This is not at all hard to understand, unless you lack the will to empathize with a different experience.

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